| 释义 |
quadrilateral, a. and n.|kwɒdrɪˈlætərəl|
Also 7 quadrilaterall.
[ad. L. type *quadrilaterālis, f. quadrilater-us + -al1. See prec. and cf. F. quadrilatéral.]
A. adj.
a. Four-sided; having a four-sided base or section.
1656Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 162/2 The Altar..was no longer a Cube, but..a quadrilateral Pillar. 1674tr. Scheffer's Lapland xvi. 83 The whole form seems to be like a quadrilaterall house. 1718Quincy Compl. Disp. 33 In common Salt we plainly discover Quadrilateral Pyramids, with square Bases. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 1125 Carbazotate of Potassa crystallizes in long yellow quadrilateral needles. 1876Duhring Dis. Skin 38 Nails are rounded or quadrilateral bodies.
b. Bot. Of a stem: (see quot.).
1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 184 The principal sections of all the leaves..may lie in two planes, crossing one another at right angles, when the shoot is quadrilateral.
B. n.
a. A figure bounded by four straight lines; a space or area having four sides.
In mod. Geom. A figure formed by four straight lines, no three of which pass through the same point, and by the six points (vertices) forming the intersections of these lines, taken two by two (Cf. quadrangle).
1650T. Rudd Euclide 45 To forme a..Quadrilaterall, about which a circle may be circumscribed. 1827Hutton Course Math. I. 282 A Diagonal is a line joining any two opposite angles of a quadrilateral. 1866R. A. Proctor Handbk. Stars 16 The intermediate figures are quadrilaterals of varying form. 1893E. H. Barker Wanderings by Southern Waters 301 Four..towers occupying the angles of a small quadrilateral.
b. The space lying between, and defended by, four fortresses; spec. that in North Italy formed by the fortresses of Mantua, Verona, Peschiera, and Legnano.
1859Times 1 July 8/5 Such fortresses as compose the famous ‘Quadrilateral’. 1866Sat. Rev. 21 July 66/1 The Quadrilateral and Venice still remain in the hands of the Austrians. 1870Pall Mall G. 2 Sept. 2 He has four fortresses around him..but upon twelve square miles of territory..he cannot play at quadrilaterals.
fig.1888Ld. Rosebery in Daily News 20 Feb. 5/5 Am overjoyed..that Edinburgh is once more the quadrilateral of Liberalism.
c. Eccl. The four essential principles of Anglicanism, orig. enunciated in 1870 and approved by the Lambeth Conference of 1888 as a basis for the reunion of the Christian Church. Freq. Lambeth Quadrilateral. (Transf. use of sense b.)
1870W. R. Huntington Church-Idea vii. 157 1st. The Holy Scriptures as the Word of God. 2d. The Primitive Creeds as the Rule of Faith. 3d. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself. 4th. The Episcopate as the key-stone of Governmental Unity. These four points, like the four famous fortresses of Lombardy, make the ‘Quadrilateral’ of pure Anglicanism. 1902[see Lambeth 1]. 1925J. W. Suter Life & Lett. William Reed Huntington vii. 162 It might, with some reason, be maintained that Dr. Huntington's chief claim to lasting fame was his invention and promulgation of the Quadrilateral... It was in a sermon preached at Worcester [Mass.], January 30, 1870, that he for the first time set forth the term. 1944W. Temple Church Looks Forward ii. 14 The Lambeth Conference has repeatedly offered as a basis of negotiation the famous Quadrilateral. 1954Rouse & Neill Hist. Ecumenical Movement v. 250 When Huntington had boiled Anglicanism down to its irreducible minimum, there remained his basis for a united Church—a platform later to be known as the ‘Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral’... The House of Bishops at the General Convention of 1886 [at Chicago] finally adopted his ‘Quadrilateral’ and it was reaffirmed in slightly modified form by the Lambeth Conference of 1888. 1957Oxf. Dict. Chr. Ch. 781/2 Lambeth Quadrilateral... The text of the Articles is as follows: A. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments,..as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith. B. The Apostles' Creed..and the Nicene Creed... C. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself—Baptism and the Supper of the Lord... D. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted.
Hence quadriˈlateralness, ‘the property of having four sides’ (Bailey, vol. II, 1727). |